Paul: Tea parties won't rebuild GOP

The Politico:

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) said Wednesday night that despite the groundswell of grass-roots conservative energy, the tea party movement is not likely to revive the Republican Party.

Says Paul: “I don't think you can talk about the tea party as a party,” Paul said during an interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow. “It’s made up of a lot of different people. And I don't even see them as being Republicans.”

“I think they're unhappy. They're unhappy with the establishment party. And that's made up of the Republicans and the Democrats,” Paul said. “If the Republicans don't catch on to that, they can't build their party.”

Asked about a recent photo that has been widely circulated in the liberal blogosphere showing a prominent tea party organizer from Houston holding up a sign with incendiary racial language, Paul said the tea parties sometimes “act too angrily, and it doesn't come off well.”

“If they keep doing that, yes, it may not necessarily build the party,” Paul said.